


From the Bottom of My Heart

by NekoIzumi



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Anal Sex, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Grief/Mourning, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-06
Updated: 2013-07-06
Packaged: 2017-12-17 22:16:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 18,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/872560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NekoIzumi/pseuds/NekoIzumi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Neji is in class when a hysterical secretary puts through a call on the intercom, a phone call from his lover... the last one before his plane crashes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Neji was right up in his morning routine when the phone rang. Still thinking about which classes he had today, which papers and books to bring, and with a toast in his mouth, he answered the phone, absentmindedly shoving things into his briefcase.  
“Mheow?”  
 _“Uhm… Neji, is that you?”_ came an unsure voice.  
Pale immediately dazed over as all thoughts about work left the Hyuuga. Much like a girl in love he flopped down in a chair and fiddled with the phone cord, smiling a silly smile.  
“Its me.” he answered after having chewed what he had had in his mouth and swallowed. “I miss you, when are you coming home?”  
The man on the other end chuckled, a sound that sent delightful shivers down the raven’s spine, regardless of the vast distance between them.   
_“This evening actually.”_ came the warm answer. _“I managed to cut the workload down a little so I’ll jump on a plane around noon.”_   
The long haired man pouted. Something he refused to admit had turned into a habit around the other man.  
“And?”  
His grumpy answer earned him another low chuckle.  
 _“I miss you too, mooneye.”_ Naruto answered obediently. He knew the Hyuuga was probably smiling happily on his end. _“Aren’t you late for work, darling? You have time to sit there and daydream about how I’ll make sweet love to you when I get back home?”_  
Ivory eyes only blinked for a moment, silently disturbed how well the blonde knew him… and then glanced at the clock on the wall.  
“HEEEHH!?”  
 _“I’ll take that as a ‘no’ then.”_ the Uzumaki sniggered. _“I’ll see you later, love.”_  
Neji only had time to press out a stressed ‘see ya’ before he was out the door. Two minutes later he returned to grab his briefcase.  
  
-  
  
Naruto sighed where he was standing in line to board at the airport. This trip had been one headache after another but finally, **finally** , he was going home. A warm smile graced the gorgeous whiskered features when he looked down at the ring on his left ring finger. He was going home… to get married. It had taken him years to get a first date with the mulish Hyuuga and it had taken him even longer to get the dude to open up to him… but he had succeeded and now he had an adorable fiancé to get back home to.   
  
But… as he handed the stewardess his boarding pass he suddenly got the sickest urge to run away. Frowning at himself for something so silly, he certainly wasn’t afraid of flying after all his travels, the Uzumaki shook his head and boarded.   
  
He should have trusted his instincts telling him take a later flight…  
  
-  
  
“Who was Columbus, when and where was he born and what is he famous for… Konohamaru?”  
“He’s a detective that solves mysteries and he was born ages ago!” came the immediate answer.  
“Very funny.” Neji smirked right back. “You have Columbus confused with Columbo. Udon, please wipe your nose.” The raven sighed and silently wondered why he had ended up teaching history to intermediary-schoolers when his major was high school science. Ah, right. He was the sucker that had been the last one out of the room when the principal asked for volunteers seeing as Iruka was on a sick leave. Damn.   
Rubbing a brow tiredly he nodded for another student to answer the question. Moegi however hadn’t even opened her mouth when the internal phone on the wall buzzed to life… and delivered a shock to them all.  
  
 _‘-eji!? The plane is crashing! We’re going down! I think someth-’_ Naruto's voice came at them along with a lot of static. They could hear screaming in the background and sounds of screeching metal. _‘Neji, I love you, I love you, I-’_   
The call was cut off and only the low beeping sound of the dead line remained.   
  
Shocked in the very foundations Neji couldn’t but stand there, staring at the now silent phone. He didn’t notice the silent children, he didn’t see or hear other teachers silently entering the classroom to check on him. Apparently the call had been broadcasted over the entire school. He didn’t snap back to reality until a gentle hand very carefully landed on his shoulder.  
“I’ll take over so why don’t you-” Genma never made it further before the Hyuuga abruptly turned on his heel and fled the room, all his notes flying through the air.   
  
-  
  
It felt like it took him weeks to get to the crisis center where more worried ones had come to get even the tiniest clue as to what had happened to their loved ones. People were crying, screaming, sniffling and some simply sat silently and just rocked back and forth.   
“We will all let you know as soon as we have anything to tell you!” a rather desperate officer repeated over and over again as people simply wouldn’t stop asking questions he couldn’t possibly know the answers to. What had happened to the plane, was his or hers daughter alright, where would the survivors arrive? Still shocked, the ivory eyed man rushed up to the distressed policeman and grabbed him by the lapels as soon as he spotted him in the crowd.  
“Lee.” the raven pressed out in a whisper. “Naruto was on that plane, tell me what you know!”  
  
Shocked, the black-haired man swallowed hard. It was one thing dealing with scared and worried people when you had no emotional attachment to them, it was an entirely different issue when it concerned one of your best friends. Having waved for another officer to take over, he took the Hyuuga a bit sideways to get some privacy.  
  
“I can’t tell you much but from what I’ve heard from the higher-ups, and this isn’t supposed to come out yet so keep quiet about it, it seems as if it was bird-strike. No one knows for sure because they were so high up but-…” Lee ran a hand over his face and sighed. The man before him was desperate, a blind man on a galloping horse would’ve seen that much, and just like everybody else, he was hanging onto hope that his precious one would return home, unharmed. “Neji… the plane crashed out at sea only minutes ago.” he mumbled lowly… only to catch the very pale man when his knees suddenly went weak underneath him. Holding on to him hard, he continued giving the little information he had. “No boats have reached the site yet but they're on the way. We picked up maydays from the pilot and there are survivors but…”  
“No buts, Lee.” came the broken whisper. “No buts, howevers or maybes. Just tell me he's coming home safe.”  
There wasn’t anything the Rock could say to that, he couldn’t make any promises no matter how much he wanted to. Instead he tightened his grip on the sobbing man and offered the little comfort he could.  
  
-  
  
4 hours after the crash the first ship reached the site. They had picked up life rafts full of survivors on their way there and amazingly, despite the shock they could reveal that the landing had gone surprisingly well. The plane hadn’t been smashed to pieces at the impact with the ocean surface… but it had gotten damaged… and taken in water. Slowly sinking, people had stepped over each other to get out… only to be met with freezing water. A few of the rafts hadn’t even inflated when the doors opened and the ones that had had soon been so heavy with shivering people that they had threatened to sink. Shocked and cold, they had seen passengers drown before their very eyes when they were simply too cold to swim anymore. It was a nightmare.   
  
-  
  
36 hours after the crash. Still no blonde in sight. The ships had come back not long ago, reuniting worried ones and victims from the crash, Neji had stood on his toes to see a glimpse of sun kissed hair and whiskered cheeks… but there hadn’t been any Uzumaki onboard on any of the rescue boats. Feeling closer and closer to the edge of despair he had watched how the last victim was finally brought back, cold but unharmed.   
  
It hadn’t been his lover.   
  
It had made him shut down completely and being in no state to drive, Lee had taken him home. He had brought the raven inside, taken off his coat and shoes and gently tucked him in, mumbling something about checking up on him tomorrow. Neji hadn’t heard, hadn’t bothered to listen. He was gone to the world within seconds of hitting the pillow. Just to be on the safe side, Lee grabbed the spare key before closing the door behind him on his way out.  
  
-  
  
The three men outside the apartment door glanced worriedly at each other. They had been ringing the doorbell, pounding on the door and shouting the last 20 minutes… without any response from inside. They didn’t have a key but Lee had and he was on his way, but from the other side of Konoha it would take him a good 40 minutes before he got here… and that was time the three men didn’t have. Something was wrong, very wrong, and it worried them. Without a word Shikamaru disappeared down the vestibule to get the master key from the landlord while the others continued to abuse the door. They knew Neji was inside… they just didn’t know in which state.   
  
10 minutes later and the Nara returned with the key. Quickly they opened the door and rushed inside… only to be met with a mess. Shocked they stared at the empty bottles on the floor. Whiskey, wine, beer, alcohol in all its forms had been downed… obviously straight from the bottle. They found the raven in the bedroom, dirty and unconscious but at least he was alive.  
Kiba wrinkled his nose at the stench of booze in the room. A glance towards the bathroom told him that the Hyuuga had been there but judging from the puddle on the floor, he hadn’t quite been able to hit the toilet bowl when Mother Nature called. Apparently, Neji had tried to drown his sorrows much like the ocean had drowned his lover. It wouldn’t work, when he woke up and the hangover struck, they'd be right back.   
  
Without a word the Inuzuka started cleaning up the apartment while Shikamaru and Chouji took care of their fallen comrade. There were pictures everywhere, on the floor, on the table, in the bed… albums had been ripped from shelves and its contents spread all over the place in silent witness to the breakdown the Hyuuga had had in the middle of the night when he woke up alone… and remembered that he indeed was alone. Kiba cringed when he heard the sound of vomiting from the bathroom. No alcohol in the world was going to give them the happy and boisterous blonde back… although he had to admit that downing a bottle of Jameson Whiskey™ right now didn’t sound that bad. They had all lost something precious in the whiskered man. Kiba had lost his best friend since childhood, likewise Shikamaru and Sakura, that wasn’t even here right now because she was on vacation, she’d be heartbroken when she returned and heard of this. And Neji… Neji had lost his other half, his soulmate.   
  
The tattooed man closed his eyes and drew a deep sigh when he heard the sound of desperate sobs from the other room. It would take a long, **long** time before the longhaired man got over this… if he got over it at all.  
  
-  
  
“Man overboard!!”  
The men working on the small fishing boat dropped everything at hand and rushed to the rail to see. Indeed. There was a person floating in the water… and judging by the barely there bobble, he'd sink soon. Someone grabbed a grapple just to get a grip on the man’s shirt to keep him above surface until someone jumped in and help him up. He was cold, very much so and they feared they had found him too late. What had happened, how had he ended up this far out at sea seemingly out of nowhere? Had his boat foundered? Using pure strength they managed to get the large man onboard and then carry him under deck to the only shower onboard. The water wasn’t particularly warm but this man with oddly whiskered cheeks was so cold his lips were purple, they had to get him warm and fast!   
  
The only thing they checked before they ripped his clothes off to leave him in his underwear was his pulse, and thankfully they found one, it was barely there, a faint flicker under the fingertips of the only medic onboard, but it was more than enough for them. Hands rough from the hard work out at sea, rubbed stiff and cold muscles to get him warm faster while the men desperately trying to get a reaction out of the blonde man, gradually turned the water up as he reached closer and closer to consciousness. The first reaction they got was a scream. The water, only a fraction over lukewarm, was burning on the too pale skin and his body jerked as he slowly got the feeling back in cold limbs. They held him still, continued to warm him up although they knew it hurt, but they had no choice.   
  
It took them almost an hour before the man was coherent enough to realize they weren’t trying to hurt him. Only then did he calm down, huddling under the pitiful spray of warm water. Not that he got to sit there for long. They turned the water off and gently wrapped blanket after blanket around him to keep him warm while someone carefully handed him a tin mug with hot coffee. The blonde was still shivering, and rather violently at that, but at least he had gotten some color back, and he could hold the cup himself… albeit with a little assistance.   
  
“You feeling better?” one of the older men asked him lowly. “Where do you come from?”  
“What happened to your boat?” another asked, just as lowly. Somehow they realized that more than hushed voices would only bring the shock back.   
Blonde brows frowned as the whiskered man tried to remember. When he searched his brain, nothing came up. He had no answers to give them! Confused he looked up from the black surface in the cup.  
“I… I don’t know.” he rasped out. “I don’t know.”  
  
He wasn’t faking, the men could see that much from the desperate look on the blonde’s features. He really didn’t remember anything. Well, there wasn’t much they could do about that now, was there?  
“What is your name?”  
The blonde man opened his mouth to answer… but nothing came out. Frowning he tried to remember. What **was** his name? He must have one but… what was it? A faint smile graced the still pale face when the blur that was his memory finally gave him a name.  
“My name is… Neji.”


	2. Chapter 2

“How are you feeling, lad?”   
The blonde offered the old man a quick smile as he sat down on the edge of the pier. Cerulean eyes, deeper than the vast sea before them, turned back to watching the foaming waves having made sure the other man sat comfortably next to him.   
“I still can’t remember anything.” he mumbled lowly. The ring on his finger weighted heavily on his conscience rather than on his hand. Somewhere out there, there was a person wearing its twin. Why couldn’t he remember someone that important? “It’s been more than a year already and we haven’t heard anything about searches for missing people. What am I supposed to do?”  
  
Sarutobi puffed on his pipe and sighed. Ever since they had picked the whiskered man out of the ocean so many months ago, the blonde had desperately tried to regain his memories… with very little luck. He didn’t know who he was or where he came from, he couldn’t remember his family or friends, not even what he did for a living. It was all a mystery to him and asking at the small police station hadn’t given him any help whatsoever. No one called ‘Neji’ had been reported missing. Basically, he was stuck here on this tiny island where he worked with the fishermen that had saved him.   
  
“You know, boy… this is a calm little village. We work hard but lead simple lives, we’re peaceful… and we’d love if you stayed.”   
The older one of the two smiled at the quick glance he was gifted with. “You’re well liked and the girls have certainly set their sights on you.”  
“I can’t.” was the low answer as tanned fingertips kept twisting the ring on his finger. He had been doing that a lot lately. He felt it, there was something missing, something oh so important.   
  
A heavy sigh of smoke followed.  
“I knew you'd say that.” Sarutobi grunted as he, with some support on a strong shoulder, heaved himself to his feet. “Well, then I recommend you to go to bed early. Konohagakure is quite some distance away and we’re leaving at sunup. In such a big city, I’m sure you'll find all the help you need.”  
“Ojii-san?” the whiskered man asked unsurely.  
It earned him a warm smile.   
“I want to see you happy, Neji. And as long as you're here, you won’t be. Just promise me you'll come visit us once you have your life on your feet again, alright?”  
The smile he was graced with was enough to lure the sun out from behind rain filled clouds.  
“I promise.”  
  
-  
  
The Hyuuga's life went by in a blur. Neji slept, ate and worked but did little else. It had taken him months before he was mentally, physically and emotionally ready to return to work… and once back he had been faced with silence. Colleagues gave him sympathetic looks, parents offered support and the children whispered in his presence. And then there were the flowers… all the masses of flowers. The first day back on the job had greeted him with a jungle where his desk should be. In a flash it had reminded him of what he'd lost, causing him to rush to the bathroom where he threw up everything he had had for breakfast… which honestly hadn’t been much.   
  
For 15 minutes he had sat there on the tiled floor, crying soundless sobs of despair. He had become a teacher because Naruto had persuaded him into it, into going for his dream. _‘You'll wither away in an office, mooneye. Stop suffering and spread your wings.’_ And so he had. He had resigned from the office the next day only to return to college… and now he was here, working with kids… but without the one person that had opened his cage and made it possible.   
  
But that breakdown was months ago and he was slowly becoming stronger. Although he didn’t collapse, and although he still felt the urge to cry every now and then, he held up. But he didn’t move on. He lived… barely. For him there would only be one person and now when that person was gone… well, he'd live on alone.   
  
The low mumbles about a funeral had died out with the first explosion of his temper and destroyed nerves, causing everyone to never mention it again, at least not around him. Neji refused to even think about it, he just wouldn’t. Because then it would be final, the ring on his finger would be just that, a ring. It would lose the promise, all the vows and importance it held.   
  
The longhaired man slowly refocused on the essays before him. He was supposed to correct them but for the love of any Lord out there, he couldn’t concentrate. Maybe because today was the one year anniversary, one year since that hateful day… one year since a phone call destroyed his world. Or maybe it was because of all the flowers and caring notes that tearful students had given him throughout the day. Naruto's last words had been broadcasted over the entire school after all and no one had gone untouched from the desperate need in his voice as he tried to ensure his love over a hitching phone line.   
  
Ivory eyes closed as a heavy sigh left him. He had been offered to take today off but decided against it. Lying in bed crying his eyes out, again, wouldn’t bring his lover back. He might as well mourn while getting some work done… if only he could focus on the stack of papers in front of him instead of thinking about eyes bluer than the cloud free sky outside the window. With yet another heavy sigh the Hyuuga ignored the worried looks from his coworkers and returned to work. The faster he got done the faster he could go back home… and grieve in an apartment that he had once shared with the lost love of his life.  
  
-  
  
It took them two weeks to get from the small island and to the mainland, but once there things proceeded relatively fast. After contacting the harbor personnel to inform them of their arrival and their cargo, the men turned to the blonde and patted him on the back wishing him luck. Some hugged him tightly, others just smiled and shook his hands… but they all smirked at the blush on whiskered cheeks when it turned out that all their wives and daughters had sent food, among other things, with them to give to their young charge. Some had even knitted sweaters and some had sent a little money.  
  
“My grandma made that sweater, Neji, so I assure you, it will keep you warm in any storm.” one man chuckled. He still remembered how stunned the old woman had been over the young lad’s sheer size when she fist met him as he brought the still shocked and confused blonde home… and how she had cursed over the amount of yarn needed for the red sweater that he currently wore.   
“And you'll smell thereafter.” another piped up, earning a swat over the head from the former and laughter from the others.   
  
“I’ll go with you while they take care of the fish.” Sarutobi smiled. “Its already midday but you still have lots of time to get in contact with the authorities.”  
“You’re only going with him because you can’t cut the cord! Just like with Asuma! Neji, boy! You can go alone if you want to!”  
“Oh, shut up, you fool! Asuma doesn’t have memory loss!”  
Wisely, no one retorted to that. The old man might be older than most of them but he was strong like a bear and had a surprisingly bad temper underneath the friendly surface. Neji however only smiled.  
  
“I appreciate it, Ojii-san. I’m sure it'll be faster if you come along since the police will probably ask questions that I can’t possibly answer.”  
Not entirely surprising, the others hadn’t really thought that far.   
  
And so, with more best-wishes and with a bag with food enough for an army, the two left the harbor to find the blonde’s identity.   
  
However… not even in Konoha's police registry did they find any missing people with the name ‘Neji’. The officer searched through other databases, even in other precincts’, other cities across the country… but to no avail. No missing people, no runaways, no fugitives and no deceased. Neji didn’t exist at all it seemed. And yet he was standing right there, by the counter. Of course there were people with that name out there but it wasn’t as if they could print out a list and check them all… and without an ID number, the policewoman couldn’t do more. She apologized but…   
  
So many hours for nothing. Sensing that the whiskered man wanted a moment to himself as they left the station after an entire day of going through one list after another, the older man mumbled something about coffee and nodded for the younger man to wait on a bench across the street. Neji only nodded and headed towards the small park and the appointed seat. What else could he do? He had no social security number to ask to trace, no memories of loved ones, no nothing… only a ring on his finger. And the gravure on the inside certainly didn’t help. It seemed to be a saying of some sort but he didn’t really understand it, neither had anyone else that he had shown it to. It was haunting him with the vows it represented… but his memory failed to give him any answers.  
  
Empty azure eyes blinked at the happily barking dog right in front of him from where he was sitting, a little white one with brownish grayish ears… and half a leash attached to the collar, was apparently delighted to see him judging by the furious barking and likewise wagging tail. Unsure he reached out to scratch behind droopy ears and earned practically frenzied licking. This little buddy right here was absolutely delirious to meet him! Slowly the blonde smiled.  
Cute, very cute.  
  
“Akama-…” The voice abruptly died when the owner of the little pooch, the other half of the leash in hand, came running towards him… only to stop dead in his tracks, shock evident in the black slitted eyes. “Naruto? Is that-… oh, Gods, Naruto! Naruto, it's you!” The brunet virtually tackled the stunned man and held him, hard. “I can’t believe it, it’s really you! Where have you been!? We have been so worried and-”  
“Neji?” Sarutobi asked lowly and successfully shut the paler man up. “Is everything okay?” Instantly worried when he saw the man with the strange red triangles on his cheeks, jump on the blonde, he had rushed from the coffee shop… and forgotten the coffee in the process.   
  
Frowning slightly, the taller male nodded.  
“Yes… I think so.” Blue eyes turned to the man with a now firm grip on the small dog. “Do I know you?” he asked unsurely. It earned him a warm smile from the older man.  
“Neji, this is probably one of your friends if judging by his reaction when he saw you. He can probably help you with remembering.”  
  
Kiba blinked in confusion… but then smiled when it finally clicked and he understood what was going on. Still smiling he handed the whiskered man the dog he had picked up, before reaching for his wallet. Tears actually rolled down his marked cheeks as he opened the worn leather to pull out a very thumbed photograph.   
“ **Your** name is Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto…” He held out the picture to the blonde.   
  
A group of happily smiling people sitting in a couch met him, including the man before him… and himself, with his arms lovingly wrapped around a beautiful man’s waist from behind. With a widely grinning whiskered cheek against his and their fingers laced before him, revealing twin golden bands, he unwillingly smiled warmly.   
A finger pointed to the longhaired man in the Uzumaki's embrace. “… **this** is Neji… your fiancé.” he smiled. “He’s waiting for you to come back home.”  
  
Both men turned to the older one when he suddenly chuckled.  
“I guess you found what you're looking for after all. I’m happy for you.” The smile grew warmer. “I’ll be leaving then. Remember to come visit us.”  
  
Before Naruto could say another word, the man was gone.   
Still confused, and slightly unsure to suddenly be left on his own, he flinched when the brunet grabbed his hand and started walking, dragging him along. Among all the things he spewed while walking, including his name and something about revenge for not remembering him, Kiba hauled up his cell phone. He trusted the whiskered man to carry the dog, which he did of course, and simply hurried down the street while muttering something about the damn administration taking too much time.  
  
-  
  
Tired ivory eyes turned from the blackboard to the silent students.  
“Can anyone tell me how many combinations you get from crossing a red flower with a white one and why that is?” Simple biology but then again… genetics aren’t that easy at all once you get down to it. Neji had just opened his mouth to say something more when the intercom on the wall buzzed to life. And a very excited voice boomed out in the silent classroom.  
  
‘ _Neji? He's back! Blondie’s back! He's right here, I’m holding his freaking hand! We’re on our way to the usual place, Neji! He’s here, but he has amnesia and he doesn’t remember anything, Neji, he’s back!’_  
  
The Hyuuga stood there trembling as he heard the phone call being cut off in the middle of ecstatic rambling and the secretary at the administration mumbling some apology or other. Was Naruto back, really?   
  
Papers flew through the air as the raven boomed out through the door the next second and rushed down the hall towards the stairs. He didn’t care about class, he didn’t care about his job or what the others would think of him, he didn’t care about the students cheering him on from the windows as he ran like the wind down the street… all he cared about was getting to where he knew the Inuzuka was heading, and fast. If Kiba had lied to him and this was all a cruel joke, he'd wring his neck like a chicken! But as he ran, he knew it wasn’t… Kiba would never lie about something like this, his voice wouldn’t have been as desperate as it had been… which meant it was true, his beloved was really back with them!  
  
Neji panted lightly as he with a curse stopped at a red-light. He wasn’t stupid enough to take any risks to get there faster, not if there was even the slightest risk of not getting there at all because of it. He mentally thanked himself for having poured his grief into running instead of booze after that one night so long ago, and hence he had extraordinary stamina… and he definitely needed it now. The light turned and before the first ones waiting had even taken a single step, the Hyuuga was on the other side, rushing towards the Starbucks™ where the brunet had said they were heading. Just a little more, just around the corner…  
  
Breathing heavily he rounded the corner and virtually crashed into the Inuzuka. One look and all his hopes multiplied. Tears of joy were running down tattooed cheeks… but where was the blonde?   
Kiba put his hand on the raven’s arm and pressed out another smile.  
  
“We looked for the wrong person, Nej. He doesn’t remember anything, not even his own name… but he remembered **yours**.” he said lowly. “He’s been called by your name the last 14 months… and he's in there waiting for you.”  
  
Suddenly so petrified of seeing his loved one again, Neji turned his gaze from the Inuzuka and his dog, and stepped through the glass doors. There, by a table he sat… his most precious person. Anxious blue eyes scanned the crowd of people, occasionally looking down to study a picture in a ring adorned hand… but locked on the raven as soon as he saw him. Wide ivory saw how the taller man unsurely rose to stand… how he hesitantly took a few steps towards him… before they both suddenly couldn’t take it anymore and rushed towards each other.   
  
They caught each other and held one another as hard as they could, harder. Arms he hadn’t felt embrace him for more than 14 long months tightened when the Uzumaki felt the paler man tremble in desperate sobs as Neji pressed his nose to the tanned neck to inhale his lover’s scent. Under the smell of sea and fish he found it, that smell that was pure Naruto, his most beloved. His heart beat so hard in his chest he was positive he'd have bruises later but it didn’t matter, the iron hold on him however did and he never wanted it to let go. His lover’s name was a mantra on his tongue that he time after another mumbled into the oh so familiar strong shoulder. Any other time he would have been embarrassed that the larger man so easily lifted him off the floor but not now, nothing mattered anymore, only Naruto, his Naruto.   
  
“I've missed you so much, I thought I lost you. Never, ever leave me again.” His voice came out in broken whispers.   
Cerulean eyes fluttered closed as he shook his head. That feeling of something important not being there… was fading. He now knew what it was that had been missing, this man right here… this man whose name he had remembered instead of his own. Neji was… **home**.  
“Never.” he mumbled into long silky tresses. “Never.” He didn’t need memories to know he was where he belonged.


	3. Chapter 3

Naruto downright refused to let go of the raven and much to his undiluted joy, it seemed to be highly mutual. Neji held on to a strong tanned hand through the entire way back to the school and although the blonde and Inuzuka couldn’t follow him inside while he got his things, he hurried in and was back in just a few minutes, just to throw himself in his lover’s arms again. He didn’t even mind the catcalls from his students, as it was right now, the only thing that mattered was Naruto. If he lost his job for just leaving like that, so be it, he'd get a new one. But as they reached the Hyuuga's car, Kiba that had been gushing words since they left the coffee shop, suddenly shook his head and stepped back.   
“I won’t go with you, guys.”  
  
Two pairs of questioning eyes blinked at him, although one pair was rather grateful.  
“Why?” the Uzumaki asked, slightly confused.  
“Because you two have been apart for more than a year and I figure you need some time alone.” came the warm answer. “Besides, there's a lot of people that I have to call and tell the good news so be prepared to get stormed tomorrow. I won’t give you two lovebirds more time than that.”  
As the blonde got in the car Neji mouthed a silent _‘thank you’_ to the other man. The brunet only smiled and nodded.  
  
-  
  
The ride to their shared apartment was made in silence. The raven was concentrated on the traffic and the blonde was looking out the window trying to remember if he had ever seen the buildings they passed. The doctor he had met on the island hadn’t been an expert on head injuries but he had said that with the right triggers his memory would return. Obviously, there hadn’t been any of those in the small village. But here they were and there were a lot of them, because he could swear he had seen that post office before, and he **knew** he had been to that grocery store over there. Azure eyes blinked as the car stopped and the paler man got out. He waited with his hand outstretched, smiling, he couldn’t seem to stop smiling!   
  
An apartment complex in what could only be described as a ‘good neighborhood’ met them. Taking the offered hand, the Uzumaki let himself be guided through the lush garden and to door number 7. Five flights of stairs later and through a door… and he stood in a hallway that was so familiar he felt the urge to throw some keys in the glass bowl on the dresser to his left. Judging by the keys already in there and the ones the longhaired man absentmindedly tossed towards it, that was the purpose.   
“Okaeri.” Neji mumbled softly. He had waited so long to say that.   
“Tadaima.” came the low answer. Before the blonde could say anymore though the raven continued. His voice was serious but warm as he took a tanned hand to pull the other inside once he had toed off his shoes.   
“I know you don’t remember and that this is all new to you but don’t worry, we’ll take it at our pace. Hurry slowly and I’m sure you'll remember soon.”  
  
The lack of pressure was comforting, he didn’t have to rush. Naruto smiled warmly at the smaller man, earning a smile in return… and then he reached the living room. Blue eyes widened.  
If he had ever doubted his relationship to the raven ‘til now, all doubts were certainly blown away. The furthest wall was an intricate pattern of black shelves on a burgundy background, shelves filled with books about everything between heaven and earth, small wooden figurines from Africa, a little jade Buddha from China, a daruma from Kyoto, CDs, a small stereo, glass vases in different sizes and colors… and photos, photos of them together, grinning like loons in some, laughing in some and simply cuddling in others. Neji was grinning at a widely grinning Uzumaki in a few, smirking rather evilly in some and crying in one or two. But one picture stood out from the rest, a picture with the two of them together, taken from the side where they were watching a remarkable sun rise over the horizon. The blonde was sitting behind the paler man, resting his chin on the dark head lightly while holding the Hyuuga in a safe and caring embrace. Both their faces were relaxed, only hinting at smiles rather than showing any expressions other than serenity, and their gazes were focused on the rising sun… on their future. Carefully tanned fingers whispered over the glass.  
  
“When was this taken?” the whiskered man asked lowly.  
“Two years ago. That was the morning you asked me to marry you.” was the equally low answer. Neji walked up to the larger male and wrapped his arms around his waist from behind, resting his temple between the Uzumaki's shoulder blades. His beloved’s smell drifted towards him and he breathed it in in a heavy sigh. Ivory eyes fluttered closed. “You gave me the world that day.” He mumbled. “I remember swearing to kill you if it was another of your stupid jokes but… it wasn’t. You went through the whole shebang, flowers, champagne and kneeling and asking for my hand in marriage.” The Hyuuga chuckled at the sweet memory. “It was 4 o'clock in the morning and I was so sleepy I couldn’t see straight but then you put the ring on my finger… I’ll never forget the look in your eyes that morning.” A soft smile graced beautiful pale features when strong hands grabbed his around the slender waist… and tightened their grip as they moved his higher over the whiskered man’s abdomen. The dark voice was warm when he asked the one question that the raven preferred not to answer.  
“What was your reaction?”  
  
The longhaired man groaned and burrowed his face into the red sweater.  
“Why don’t you let your memory provide that for you?” was the muffled answer.  
The strong body he held onto tensed.  
“What if I’ll never remember? It’s been a year already, what if I won’t regain my memories?”  
Dark lashes fluttered open… and then he sighed.  
“I believe you'll remember everything, all our moments, all your friends and of course your family. It’s impossible for you to forget, that’s what I think.”  
“…you believe in me that much… Neji?” It felt odd calling someone else by a name he'd thought his own up until only an hour ago.   
“More.” was the simple answer. “But I’ll tell you because you asked so nicely.” the Hyuuga changed the subject to something lighter. “There you were, on your knee, love in your eyes, a ring in your hand, prepared to put it on my finger and you had just given me a speech that would’ve put Shakespeare to shame… well, you had proposed to me had I been a girl so I acted like one.” A dark brow twitched at the sudden grin he was gifted with over a wide shoulder, regardless of the blush on whiskered cheeks behind slightly too long golden bangs.  
“You cried?”  
  
With an indignant huff the raven let go and stomped out in the kitchen.  
“Yes, I cried, you big oaf! I had woken up less than 5 minutes before it, excuse me if I wasn’t prepared to suddenly have two dozen red roses shoved in my face upon opening my eyes!”  
Blue eyes blinked as Naruto scratched a cheek sheepishly.  
“I’m not a very considerate person, am I?” he mumbled.  
Causing the smaller male to abruptly turn on his heel and stomp back to grab the Uzumaki by the ears to pull him down to the Hyuuga's level. The look in ivory eyes was desperate.  
“Don’t **ever** say that! You were always thinking about me, always putting family and friends before yourself, sometimes to a downright ridiculous extent, so don’t you **ever** say you're not considerate! The reason you shocked me is because you knew you'd get pure reactions from me! You know I bottle things up so hitting me with a proposal when I wasn’t even fully awake yet let you get to me, let me know you were sincere.” Neji smiled at the stun in blue eyes. “ **Because** you're considerate, you never played any pranks on me in the early morning.” Knowing he'd kiss the blonde if he didn’t pull back, and that the Uzumaki probably wasn’t ready for it yet, the paler man let go and took a step back. “You’re a calculating and manipulating bastard but you never, **never** , hurt anyone. People love you for who you are so don’t you dare say that kind of bullshit.”  
“Feisty.”  
Seeing how fast the Hyuuga whipped around to glare daggers at him, Naruto suddenly got the feeling he shouldn’t have said that. He raised his hands and smiled apologetically while backing out of the kitchen. “Eh… I’m sorry?”  
No use. Neji stalked after him with steam virtually puffing from his ears. Royally pissed off and then some.  
He pounced.  
  
A few minutes later…  
  
“You hit me!”  
“You called me ‘ **feisty** ’!”  
“You **are** feisty! You're like a freaking cat hissing and spitting, mooneye.”  
Both men froze at the sweet nickname falling from soft lips. Neither moved from their position, with the blinking permanently tanned man on the thick soft carpet and the raven straddling his stomach. Suddenly pale eyes filled with tears.  
  
“I haven’t heard that for more than a year.” Neji whispered. He trembled where he was perched, pale hands having a viselike grip on the blonde’s sweater. “Only you have ever called me that.” As dark lashes fluttered closed, tears finally rolled down pale cheeks. “You called me that day, you called me telling me you loved me before the call was suddenly cut off. For one year I’ve walked around thinking I heard you die. I just barely survived it.” The smaller male shook in desperate sobs when he finally dared believe, when it suddenly became clear to him that his lover was in fact right here, living and breathing. His voice grew from sniffles to low cries and finally it broke out into a heart wrenching sound that had Naruto's chest aching. Without thinking he held the shattering raven to his chest, held him as hard as he could while pressing kisses to the dark silky hair. And without either of them being aware, his kisses trailed lower, over a slim eyebrow, a cheekbone… and to longing lips. Naruto, who had always felt awkward around others when they advanced on him, closed his eyes and sighed into the kiss. This was right, this was the person he had saved himself for. Tanned hands buried themselves in long dark strands on their way up to gently cradle his hiccupping lover tenderly. Now he was certain, no matter how long it took, his memories would return and until then, he could make new ones.  
“I’ve missed you so much and I didn’t even know it.” he murmured into the slowing kiss. “But now I know and I can’t understand how I managed a year without you… my Neji. For 12 months and more I’ve walked around being called by your name because that was the only thing I could remember. Your name was ringing in my mind… so I took it as mine.”  
  
Neji pressed out a sobbing chuckle.  
“Idiot. No wonder I couldn’t find you. Not that I had a reason to look, they crushed all my hope when they came to me with their useless apologies.” Slowly he wrapped his arms around a strong neck. “A part of me died when they told me you were gone. I couldn’t think, I couldn’t breathe… for weeks I didn’t function. I nearly gave myself alcohol poisoning because I couldn’t find any other way to numb the pain.”  
Blonde brows frowned when a fleeting image for a second reached the surface.  
“But you don’t drink.”  
“I did then.” the longhaired man sighed into the tanned neck. “I downed everything I could find.”  
  
Cerulean eyes glanced towards the bar in a corner. It had once been full with bottles but now there were only a few left, half full. He tightened his grip on the Hyuuga and sighed. He couldn’t even imagine the pain that his beloved had gone through. It must've been excruciating. All he knew was that he had felt empty inside ever since the shock faded that time after Sarutobi and his men had picked him up. But he was home now and he'd make sure to never hurt his precious one again. While they sat there the sun set and soon enough they were enveloped in darkness. Both sat in silence, happy to finally be together again when… an embarrassingly loud growl came from Naruto's stomach. He screwed his eyes shut when the paler man chuckled.  
“I've even missed how your seemingly bottomless stomach can ruin any perfect moment. Getty up, I’ll make you something to eat.” Not that Neji made any effort to move.  
“Noodles?”  
It earned the blonde a loud happy laughter.  
“I think there's an instant cup somewhere.”  
  
-  
  
Neji wasn’t entirely sure how to ask the question on his tongue. Well, he had a lot of questions but seeing as it had been a tiresome day for both of them, they'd have to wait until later… however, one question needed an answer right away. Slowly he turned his gaze to the Uzumaki coming out of the bathroom. After a shower and with his old PJpants on, he looked as if he had never left at all. Well, a hard life on the sea had given him more muscle and he needed a haircut but other than that, he was exactly the same, gorgeous to look at and with a gentle mind that made people worship him despite his prankster nature. And he was **Neji's** lover.   
“Naruto?”  
“Mhm?” came the absentminded answer as strong hands rubbed the golden mane dry with a towel.   
Yup, exactly the same.  
“I know you just got back and that you don’t remember much about us but… do you want to sleep here? With me?” Pale eyes turned to the humongous bed he was sitting on, their bed. “If you're not comfortable with that, I’ll make the guestroom ready for you.” He didn’t want that but he wanted to pressure the whiskered man even less. The raven held his breath as that dark blue gaze flickered between him and the bed. Much like the living room, all the asymmetrical shelves over the bed were black on a warm red wall, and although these held books too, there were more photos on these.   
Azure finally landed on the Hyuuga's ring finger where the yellow metal band rested. This wasn’t just anybody… it was his fiancé.   
  
Having thrown the towel in the hamper he walked up to the silent raven, smiling softly. He cupped a pale cheek tenderly.  
“I want to go to sleep in your arms… and that’s where I want to wake up.” His smile widened at the soft kiss to his palm. Without a word they moved under the duvet where they settled down in each others embrace. However, tired as they both were, none of them fell asleep. They lay there, both in their own thoughts yet so focused on the other.  
  
“Naruto?”  
Only after a minute, when the blonde realized it was indeed **his** name being called, did the Hyuuga get an answer.  
“...oh, yes?”  
“Tell me more about what you have been doing these last 14 months.” Neji begged lowly. He wanted, needed, to know that his most precious person had been alright all this time.   
His query earned him a deep sigh and a strong hand absentmindedly petting shiny tresses behind the raven’s back.   
“Well, I've been working on Hokage, ojii-san’s trawler ever since he fished me out of the ocean. There was little else I **could** do with no memory and no skills… although it turned out I'm good at drawing.”  
Neji chuckled.  
“You should be. You're a graphic designer after all.”  
  
“… well, that certainly answered a few questions.” came the slightly sour mumble which earned him a smile he didn’t see.  
“Let me guess. You were doodling trolls and dragons everywhere?” the paler man smirked.  
“Ogres actually. Why?”  
“You always start doodling character designs when you're either bored or nervous. Used to drive me crazy.”  
“You’re **that** used to it?” A golden brow rose at the snort it earned him. “No?”  
“I stopped complaining over you using whatever paper that was around, which usually turned out to be schoolwork, when you drew **me** naked on a couch in nothing but a necklace instead of Kate freaking Winslet.”  
“I did that?”   
“You did.” The answer was rather dry. “And on the backside of my essay to boot. I've never been more humiliated than when Genma got hold of it and almost managed to copy and wallpaper the teachers lounge with it.”  
The Uzumaki couldn’t but smirk.  
“Oh, I’m good! Wait… ‘almost managed’…?”  
“I caught him halfway down the corridor and relieved him of it.”  
“Translated…?”  
“I tackled him, nearly shoved that damn toothpick down his throat and walked away.” There was no mistaking of the pride in the smaller male’s voice. A rather stunning feat it seemed. Naruto couldn’t but smile. No matter how he looked at it, his relationship with the raven certainly wasn’t boring, not if judging by all the pictures of them together, spanning between happy, pissed and everything in-between. They did indeed live for each other. Blonde brows frowned slightly when yet another shadow reached the surface. Slightly disturbed, he just had to ask.  
  
“Have you ever called me a ‘pea brain’?”  
Neji burst out laughing before he could even think about holding it back. And it certainly didn’t become any easier to hold back at the indignant huff it earned him. “What’s so funny?”  
“I called you a pea brain, every day for two entire years before I finally caved and went on a date with you.” the Hyuuga mused. “You’d ambush me any given moment and ask me out, I'd tell you to sod off, and yet you asked again the next day.”  
“What made you give in?”  
  
The longhaired man sighed where he rested his chin on his wrists, perched on top of the strong chest. Almost lucid ivory, in the dark bedroom their only light from the moon outside, gave the gorgeous whiskered features a fond look. A tiny smile that simply hadn’t been able to leave him graced the paler man’s face.  
“I got irritated enough and almost busted one of your eardrums when I roared an ‘alright’ in your face. I figured I'd go and finally get rid of you and your nagging.”  
Tanned hands gently rubbed tense muscles in the raven’s small, earning him a content sigh.  
“So… what happened?”  
“Much like always, you went ahead with your own agenda and crushed all my plans. I fell for you that day.”  
“I **am** good!”  
Neji smiled wider.  
“You are, I admit that.”  
A blonde brow rose.  
“Now why do I have the feeling that that stung?”  
  
“Because you're the only one who can bruise my ego and live.” came the surprisingly straight answer.   
Blushing slightly, Naruto turned his gaze to the headboard, only then realizing it was a rather sturdy piece of furniture.   
Swallowing hard, he just had to ask again.  
“Bondage?”  
“Occasionally.” Neji chuckled. “A spice more than the norm so don’t get any weird ideas.”  
The Uzumaki preferred not to think about where the sting of disappointment came from. Instead he sighed. This bedroom right here felt so alien… and yet so comfortingly familiar. But what was best of all was the already lightly snoring Hyuuga in his arms. Apparently he had clocked out as soon as he blonde relaxed. Well, it had been an eventful day... for both of them… and yet it took quite some time before the permanently tanned man fell asleep.  
  
-  
  
When Neji woke up he was cold… and alone. Feeling his chest clench painfully he reached full awareness. _‘Please don’t let yesterday be a dream.’_ he prayed. _‘I can’t handle it.’_ But when ivory eyes fluttered open he was met with a wall of permanently tanned skin. His lover, so precious and **alive** … was sleeping on the very edge of the bed. Silently the Hyuuga admired the strong back before him. _‘Definitely more muscles.’_ Not that he complained. A scar under the blonde’s shoulder blade drew his gaze there and frowning slightly, he reached out to touch. He had never seen it before, how had it gotten there, in the crash?   
  
Barely had pale fingertips brushed the welted skin before the strong body suddenly jerked and with a muted shriek crashed to the floor when the Uzumaki woke up and abruptly lost his balance. Neji smiled warmly as he peeked over the edge of the bed at his confused lover.   
“Good morning, Naruto.” he greeted lowly.   
Blinking cerulean met ivory… but then smiled shyly.   
“Good morning.” was the low answer. “Did I wake you?”  
“No, I was awake. Come here, let me hold you.”  
Naruto hesitantly moved up on the bed and in under the covers where a warm body met him. He didn’t relax until he felt the raven rest his head on his chest, a pale ear right over steady heartbeats.   
“Don’t you have to go to work?” he mumbled a few minutes later.   
His answer was the answering machine beeping into action when the phone suddenly rang.  
  
 _‘Hyuuga-san? It has come to my knowledge about your situation at home and I assume you'll ask for a few days off.’_ came the husky voice of Neji's boss. _‘I will grant you a few days for the sake of your circumstances being extreme and for the peace and quiet at my school. But I expect to see you in my office on Monday morning.’_ With that the message ended.  
  
The raven nuzzled the warm skin, breathing in the familiar smell.  
“Nope.” he answered the Uzumaki's question. “I’m off.”  
“What a topper.”  
Neji smirked.   
“He knew I'd resign on the spot if he didn’t do it and honest to say, I’m one of the few teachers he has that elicits straight A’s from the brats. He can’t afford to lose me.”  
“You’re living your dream.”  
The longhaired man paused… and closed his eyes while smiling warmly. He hummed.  
“I am.” The soft kiss to a strong pectoral earned him a deep sigh. “Thank you for not letting me rot away in an office under my uncle’s reign.”  
“I… don’t remember any of that…” came the low answer. “I just-… I don’t know… I only get hints…”  
The raven heard the frustration, he knew how his beloved tended to deadlock whenever he couldn’t figure something out, and so he grabbed a tanned chin and held it firmly while locking those cerulean eyes.  
“You don’t need more than that.” he mumbled lowly. “Hints are enough, really. It’s slowly coming back to you, right? Don’t rush it.”  
  
Golden lashes fluttered closed. The Uzumaki nodded awkwardly. Its just that-… he wanted so dearly to remember all the things that the paler man was talking about, he wanted to understand where those soft expressions came from and how to elicit more… as it was right now, he felt like a complete stranger in his own home because he didn’t know where all the figurines, photos and personal items came from, what they meant or why. He simply didn’t remember.   
  
He blinked when the Hyuuga pressed a quick kiss to the tanned nose. “You want breakfast? I don’t have that much but we can take a walk to the grocery store if you want-” Neji suddenly stopped… and offered yet another one of those smiles that the whiskered man didn’t know where they came from. “No, I have a better idea. I know where we’ll have breakfast.”  
  
-  
  
Yet another area that felt so familiar but that he couldn’t really place. He knew these houses, he remembered that ugly purple porcelain duck on that porch over there but… hadn’t it been green the last time he saw it? He was pretty positive it had been green. Blue eyes blinked as they pulled up on a driveway edged with lush flowerbeds. Hesitantly he stepped out of the car and followed the smiling Hyuuga to the front door. He had an odd feeling tingling his spine and he wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing.  
Neji smiled softly as the door opened after a few signals.  
“I have someone here that you would very much like to meet.” Taking a step to the side he pulled a little on a strong tanned hand to introduce the whiskered man.   
Naruto stared... at an equally shocked replica of his own face. The man looked worn, tired... and crushed as tears suddenly started to run down whiskerless cheeks.  
“Naruto?”  
  
Frowning slightly in confusion, the Uzumaki glanced at his fiancé. Was this-...?  
“I uhm... eh...” he began but never got further. A crushing embrace cut all words off as the older blonde simply pulled him into his arms... and collapsed. Strong shoulders shook with loud sobs while a highly confused Uzumaki had no choice but to hold the other where he was suddenly sitting uncomfortably on the threshold.   
  
“Minato?” The light voice was confused as a small redheaded woman came into view from the hall... and stopped dead in her tracks at the sight of the younger blonde. She trembled, he could see that much, her whole body trembled as she stared at him with wide eyes, obviously too afraid to believe in what she was seeing. Without a word she turned to Neji, wordlessly asking him to confirm what she was indeed witnessing, her husband, clinging to their only son in desperate sobs of relief. The raven offered her yet another warm smile, he couldn’t seem to stop smiling that way, not now, not ever.   
“We came here for breakfast.” he answered lowly... only to rush inside when Kushina sunk down against a wall, shaking harder than before. Her gaze was locked solid on the distressed blondes, the younger awkwardly trying to comfort the older without having a single clue of what was going on.   
  
“He’s-” she whispered. “He’s back?”  
“Kiba found him yesterday. I’m sorry I didn’t come here straight away.” the pale eyed man mumbled lowly while helping his mother in law to her feet. “I had a hard time believing it myself until I woke up this morning and he was still there.”  
The sound the small woman pressed out was so heartbreakingly anguished it had the whiskered man cringing in his own skin.   
  
Were these people really his parents? He could understand purely logically why they were crying... but he had no emotional attachment to them, no matter how cold-hearted it sounded. He offered the older blonde an unsure look when strong hands framed his face to meet desperate features frantically fighting to believe. Fortunately he didn’t have to say anything seeing as the raven stepped in.  
“He doesn’t remember much, only fragments here and there... that's why he hasn’t returned until now.” Neji mumbled while rocking the small redhead carefully. She was completely destroyed and couldn’t but shake in his arms. Ivory eyes met deep cerulean. “He was looking for his **own** identity.”  
Minato, still staring at the features of his beloved son, frowned in confusion.  
“What do you mean ‘his own’?”  
The Hyuuga hugged Kushina closer and sighed deeply. He could feel the tears fill his eyes again, he'd probably always cry when remembering this.  
“He thought his name was-... Neji.”  
  
No one was prepared, on any level when the smaller Uzumaki suddenly broke free from the embrace and threw herself at the younger blonde. Pure reflexes, trained from a hard life at sea, was the only thing that saved Naruto from crashing back to the ground as the small female hit him straight in the chest. He _ouf’_ ed but that didn’t stop her at all. Kushina clung to him so hard he knew he'd have bruises later but she didn’t seem to care about that either. Still so highly unsure he glanced towards the silently crying raven. He was smiling warmly... and mouthed two small words... _‘...welcome home...’_  
  
A deep sigh made the strong chest heave as golden lashes fluttered closed. Home. This was his family, the one he had missed when he was still with Sarutobi and the others, the one he had thought about and wondered about when he saw them interact with each other, how they joked around, fought...loved. He didn’t have to feel left out anymore. And if he gave it some time he knew all his memories of them would return, just like the ones of Neji were slowly reaching the surface again. Swallowing hard, he remained in silence as he held the small woman close. She had come completely apart in his arms and was clinging to him, touching him, smelling his hair while shaking like a leaf in an autumn storm. Minato was sitting on the floor, leaning against the doorjamb as his body trembled. Big permanently tanned hands, just like his own, hid the older man’s face while tears of relief and joy ran down unmarked cheeks. So much pain and sorrow, so much mourning... and his only son had been alive all along.   
He needed time to adjust, to let his aching heart fully grasp that he once again had his only child close, that Naruto was sitting less than a foot away, holding his mother. The sound ripped from his throat when it was simply too much must've been heard across the entire neighbourhood.   
  
-  
  
Puffy blue eyes, red from crying and rubbing, watched the whiskered man as he unsurely walked around in the living room, looking at pictures and small trinkets from various trips around the world. It was his son, he saw that it was his **son**... and yet the man he knew as his only child didn’t recognize him. It didn’t matter that he knew why, it didn’t matter how much the Hyuuga tried to explain, and apologize, it hurt tremendously not being remembered by your own family. Kushina had accepted it faster than her husband, she was happy the younger blonde was back at all, and had disappeared into the kitchen to make the very breakfast that the two young ones had come here for.   
  
“I know it’s confusing and I know you feel lost when you look at him.” the raven mumbled from the older man’s side. Ivory eyed turned to watch the torn features. “But he's equally confused and lost, Minato. For more than a year he lived without knowing who he is, imagine the turmoil he feels when he's suddenly here where people use another name to call him, where they all remember things he has said and done... while he stands there having no clue what they're talking about. Give him some time.”  
  
Minato knew he had to give the other time, he wanted to give the other time... but he wanted to **hold** him even more, he wanted to shake him for having scared him so much, for having been gone for so long. He wanted to scream for having been forced to believe his only son was dead, but... he could see in those whiskered features that this wasn’t all that easy for the other. Naruto was almost a little anxious where he stood looking at things he had done when he was a small child. In this room he had always moved like he belonged, in his parents’ living room... now he behaved like a wary animal. He didn’t touch much, if anything, and he was very careful not to make any mistakes, not to drop anything or step on something that shouldn’t be stepped on. The pictures on the walls confused him, seeing himself in those photographs, all the way from when he was a baby and to just a few months before he disappeared, was hard for him to grasp. He wasn’t comfortable in his parental home anymore.  
  
“Does he remember what happened?” His voice was raw, still sore from all the crying before.   
Neji shook his head having turned back to watch his precious soulmate.  
“No, and it’s for the best if we let him remember it on his own. It'll come back sooner or later and when it does, we’ll handle it then.” he answered lowly. “I don’t want him to be scared of remembering.”  
“How can you be so calm, Neji? Tell me how you can stand here and smile when I can’t stop feeling this pain in my chest?” Minato had to know, because there **had** to be a way to get rid of this excruciating pain!  
His question earned him a heavy sigh from the longhaired man.  
  
“I feel it too, and it hurts so much.” The Hyuuga offered the older male a soft smile. “But I’m grateful for it, because I actually **feel** something instead of being numb like this past one and a half year. I’ll get over it, I know I will, because **he's** there to help me.” He pressed out another soft smile and left the older blonde standing there as he walked up to the younger, gently taking a cool permanently tanned hand. Carefully he pressed a gentle kiss to the strong palm. “You’re cold.” he mumbled.  
Naruto cast an unsure glance towards where his father had disappeared to the kitchen.  
“I-... I don’t know about this. I feel...”  
“Misplaced? You see all these mementoes that you don’t remember so I can understand your unease but Naruto please relax. Don’t force yourself just because you see them, ignore them. Before you know it you'll know what that ugly clay-thing in the corner is.”  
  
Blonde brows frowned slightly. For reasons he didn’t know, he knew the Hyuuga referred to the clay-pigeon sitting innocently on a small cloth on the armoire. He didn’t know where it came from or when, he didn’t know how it had ended up there, but for some reason he knew it was a clay-pigeon, a flute. It made him relax. For the first time he really **relaxed**. So what if he didn’t remember his parents or any of the weird things in here, it'd come back to him. He saw the love in pale eyes as he answered the warm smile. He was finally starting to get some warmth back in his hands.  
“Yeah... “  
  
Both of them looked up when they heard a soft voice call to them from the kitchen. Kushina was finished with the first round of pancakes. Both Uzumakis had called work saying they simply refused to come today and for obvious reasons, they had both been granted some leave. When the two younger men entered the kitchen it felt as if Naruto had never left at all, the familiarity that always filled this house was back, as strong as it had ever been. Naruto didn’t know it, but he was put through a small test already at the table. Among all the jams and syrups, he automatically reached out for the one that he always had with pancakes, plum jam. Although his mind didn’t remember, his subconscious did. Under the surface nothing had changed at all.  
  
They didn’t eat in silence, with Kushina’s thousand questions it was impossible, but still the atmosphere was warm and homely. The younger blonde answered the questions the best he could, telling his parents all about the island where he had lived, about the life on the sea and all the people that had taken care of him. He told them about Sarutobi and the older man’s slight problem with letting Asuma go, he laughed with the other when he shared with them the sense of humour that the other fishermen had and he blushed beautifully when he recalled the time Yamato's grandma had found out he had taken a liking to her apple-pie and nearly stuffed him with it. He didn’t see it, but Minato and Neji did. The redhead was out on a silent warpath, she’d best the old lady for the affection of her son! They say the way to a man’s heart goes through his stomach and it seemed as if the delicate female was taking that saying a little too literally this time. Without doubt, there would be apple-pie for dessert today after dinner.   
  
“Let me get this straight. **You** were out on one of them fishing boats that are out in storms?” Minato blinked around his second serving of maple syrup drenched pancakes.   
Naruto chuckled behind his hand while finishing chewing, surprisingly he had managed to keep his manners despite the first come first served-mentality that had sometimes turned Sarutobi’s kitchen into a warzone.  
“The ocean isn’t a playground, you know? I’ve seen waves 7 storeys high and I assure you, they're quite intimidating. Especially when you're out on deck trying to bring in the net before the ship tips over.”  
  
Three pairs of eyes stared at him, causing him to shrug while drinking some milk. “I **was** out on the ocean to work. I've earned quite a lot of money actually.”  
“Eh... you don't happen to mean a ship like the ones in that program on discovery channel?”  
A blonde brow rose questioningly.  
“You mean the one about the crab fishers?”  
“...yeah.”  
Naruto shrugged while putting his glass back on the table.  
“Well... I guess it was something along those lines.” he thought out loud. “The difference is that they're out only during crab season while Sarutobi's ship goes out all year long. We only change what kind of fish we’re after.”  
“Naruto... people have died working on fishing boats.” Minato mumbled lowly.   
It earned him another shrug.  
“True, the worst nightmare is getting a foot caught in the line when you throw one of the tins overboard. You pray that your mates are fast enough with the knife else you'll drown in freezing water. But fortunately the only thing that happened to me was when I accidentally got a wolf-fish in the face.” He suddenly grimaced. “That actually hurt.” Blue eyes blinked when he realized the others only stared at him. “What?”  
  
-  
  
Walks around the neighbourhood, meals, jokes, it was all like normal. Naruto longed for the day he'd be able to go on these walks with Neji again and know who lived in which house or how many times he had scraped his knees at the playground he passed. But he didn’t doubt any more, he knew it would come back to him. Maybe not today and maybe not tomorrow... but some day. He smiled down at the silent Hyuuga next to him. Neji glanced up, answering the soft smile, before turning his gaze back to where they were going. He was content with just taking a relaxing walk around the block, holding his lover around the waist tenderly. He didn’t need more. Not that it stopped him from grimacing when his cell phone suddenly went off. He knew he had forgotten something.  
  
“Ya?” he answered into the plastic contraption.  
 _‘Where the hell are you!? We’re all here, all of us, and you're not at home! The fuck, you asshole!?’_  
The raven cringed. He could hear Sakura in the background and knew she would probably scalp him if he didn’t come up with a good reason and soon.  
“Kiba, he has amnesia. Do you really think it’s such a great idea to hit him over the head with a bunch of people then?” he tried lowly. “Let him at least remember **something** before you dump Haruno, Lee and Uchiha over him.” _‘Especially Uchiha.’_ the longhaired man thought sourly. He had never been fond of Sasuke and much to his satisfaction it was mutual. Their inability to accept and get along, much less trust each other, had lead to one fight after another and the only thing that had kept them from punching each others teeth out had been one Uzumaki Naruto. It really was beyond the Hyuuga's horizon how his gentle and kind lover could have such a bastard for a best friend. “Kiba, put the phone on speaker. I won’t let you stress him out by jumping him so soon but I’ll give him the phone.”  
  
Blue eyes blinked at him when he handed the slim Samsung™ to the larger male. He hesitantly lifted the cell to his ear.  
“Hallo?”  
Slightly confused, Naruto frowned when he didn’t get a response from the other end of the line. “Hallo?” he asked again. “Anybody there?”  
Only then did the others kick into gear. A cacophony of noise crackled at him through the small apparatus.  
 _‘Naruto! It’s really you! Where have you been!? Where are you now!? Is Neji treating you well!? Have you eaten yet!? Are you alright!? You fucking ruined my perfect vacation! Where are you!? We all want to see you! Can you come see us!? Naruto, we’ve missed you so much!’_ Two pairs of eyes stared at the little device when they heard furious shrieks... followed by silence... and a calm _‘dobe?’_  
The Uzumaki glanced at Neji rolling his eyes and sighing. He didn’t need memories to know that whoever was now holding the phone at the other end didn’t go well with the Hyuuga. Not sure how to react to the insult, he remained quiet. _‘Answer if you're there, usuratonkachi.’_  
  
Dry whiskered features turned to the paler man walking next to him.  
“Neji, who is this loutish person?”   
His question earned him a positively evil smirk.  
“No one important.” he answered loud enough for the Uchiha to hear. The silence that followed was more than enough to let the pale eyed man know that the other raven most definitely had a silent blow-up at his end. He swore he heard Kiba's nervous laughter there somewhere. This would so come back to bite him later but that wasn’t important because in the end, Uchiha Sasuke was and would remain the biggest loser.   
_‘I’ll get you back for that, Hyuuga.’_ came the expected promise. _‘You just wait.’_  
“Don’t get a big head, Uchiha. We both know you've never won over me before.”  
 _‘Hn.’_ the other snorted. _‘Naruto, I’m Sasuke, I’m your best friend.’_  
“Do you call all your friends demeaning names?” the blonde asked dryly.  
 _‘No, only you.’_  
“Thanks, but I can do without such friends.” the Uzumaki deadpanned. “Teme.”  
Another minute of silence passed but when the other raven spoke again his voice was oddly-... gentle.  
 _‘Welcome home... dobe.’_  
Neji sighed where they were walking. Go figure that not even amnesia could stop those two from arguing. Although they usually didn’t mean it while Sasuke and Neji did... at least when they were insulting each other, which happened whenever they were in the same room... or on the phone.   
  
Since they were soon home again, the Hyuuga took the phone back. The last thing they needed was the others hearing where they were and come rushing here. He doubted Naruto was ready for that form of reunion.  
“Guys, give us a few days, just to let things calm down a little. We’ll see you at the usual place Wednesday at 3, okay? We’ll be there, I promise.”  
The one who answered this time was Shikamaru. For some reason he hadn’t revealed to the others where the couple was because Neji was positive the Nara knew already.  
 _‘We’ll hold you to that. It’s troublesome but if you fail to show up we’ll gang up on you and hurt you.’_  
A dark brow rose.  
“I’ll keep that in mind. Over and out.” With that said he hung up the phone just as they reached the Uzumakis’ house.   
  
“They’ll really hurt you?” the larger male asked carefully. He was slightly suspicious towards his friends after that call.   
“Probably.”  
“Maybe you should’ve told them where we are?”  
The raven shook his head while smiling softly at his fiancé. He knew the others too well to be intimidated by such a half-hearted threat.  
“Don’t worry about them, Naruto. They're just very excited to know that you're back among us, they won’t hurt either of us.” _‘Well, Sasuke might try something in my general direction though.’_ “Besides, you haven’t met your family in more than a year, they need this time as much as you do. To them, this is still a miracle, let them savour it.” A pale hand caressed a whiskered cheek lovingly. “We have all the time in the world.”  
He smiled at the kiss gently pressed to the centre of his palm.  
“Yeah... we do.”  
  
-  
  
“You took a photo of me doing my business on the hallway carpet, old man?” Naruto's voice was downright stupefied as he looked at the pictures in his hands. He didn’t as much as glance towards his lover at the other end of the couch. Neji's absolute guffaw into one of the pillows was loud enough for him to know the Hyuuga was laughing his ass off without having to see it.   
Minato was roaring with laughter right next to his miffed son.  
“How could I let such an opportunity slip!? You had to go the second you got out of the car but couldn’t hold it until you reached the potty... which was standing less than 5 feet away! You looked so completely mortified, pissed and relieved all the same time while I took that photo!”  
“If you have to go you have to go!”  
“Obviously, dear.” Kushina chuckled from the stuffed chair she had huddled up in. “And the one that got the honour of cleaning the carpet of your ‘gift’ was no one else than your father.” She shot her husband a smirk. “Which he stepped in by the way, less than 5 minutes after he had taken that picture.”  
“You didn’t need to tell him that!” came the huffed answer when the raven simply lost it and howled with laughter no longer caring who heard him. He knew there was a reason Naruto had always hid his baby pictures from him before and he had that reason, or those reasons rather, spread out all over the living room table. It was a treasure presented in the form of his precious person as a wide-eyed baby wearing a cow babygro, or a 5 year old Uzumaki standing there smiling like a loon showing off the gap where his front teeth used to be. Or the happy teenager that had a slightly alarming fondness for bright orange, holding a pair of drumsticks, the latter to which a slightly toil worn Minato stood in the background, obviously having been sleep deprived for the sake of his son’s practice.   
  
Warm ivory eyes picked up a picture of a young blonde adolescent, a man he had punched in the face daily for 2 years before he gave in... and life changed around him. Gods, he loved that man so much!   
When he raised his gaze loving blue eyes met him along with a gentle smile. Naruto knew what he was thinking... he always had. Both their attention turned to the older couple when the blonde’s father tenderly picked his wife up from the chair she had fallen asleep in.   
“It’s getting late.” he murmured lowly. “And it’s been a very eventful day.” Cerulean eyes turned to a mirror image of his own. “I’ll take your mother to bed. All your things are still in your old room, we never touched anything in there. Good night.”  
  
Only after the older man had left did Neji slowly scuttle over to his lover to press a loving kiss to his lips.  
“I understand them.” he mumbled softly. “I didn’t have the heart to throw anything away either.”  
“You knew I would come back some day.” Naruto answered just as softly. It earned him a warm smile.  
“I did.” He stole another kiss. “Let’s go to bed. I haven’t slept in that tiny bed upstairs since our last visit here and that time you slept on a mattress on the floor.”  
“Not this time.”  
“Never again.”  
  
3 weeks later...  
  
“Seriously, get over it, Uchiha.” Naruto sighed where he went through his sketches not really paying attention to the man sulking next to him. With or without memory, his old workplace had been absolutely delighted to find out he was alive and well, and they were more than happy to put him back to work. As it was now, the blonde had commissions from several different game companies for designs on at least 30 different characters, one order from some kind of publisher for fantasy literature and then there was something about some convention somewhere. Of course his memory had shown glimpses of his past here and there, he remembered at least something about just about everybody, and there were flicks of parties here and there, a comment, a situation, that he could suddenly recall without really knowing what had triggered that particular memory to return. But he didn’t complain, no not that all. He was where he was supposed to, working with something he loved, living with the one he loved... bickering with someone he loved to piss off.   
  
“Of all the people at that party, you refused to remember me, **me** , your best friend!”  
Blue eyes glanced towards the raven not really doing any of the things he had been told to.  
“You behaved like a complete asswipe towards a guy who had no idea of who the hell you were, teme. I probably blocked those memories from sheer self-preservation instinct.”  
“But you remember me now, yes?”  
The Uzumaki rolled his eyes while quickly browsing through a file on his laptop to recall what it was he was actually looking for. Ah, right, the last beast for that ninja-game, a nine-tailed fox demon.  
“You’re hard to miss.” he muttered around the pencil between his teeth.   
“We grew up together, dammit! How can you forget someone that punched Kabuto in the face for you!?”  
  
Suddenly very tired, Naruto turned to look at the other man. He remembered being easily riled up by this man... how the hell had the Uchiha managed that when all he did was tire him out now? He sighed.  
“Correct me if I’m mistaken... but wasn’t that somewhere around 5th grade?”  
“4th.” the raven sulked.   
A tanned fingertip rubbed a blonde brow before it could start twitching.  
“And... **how** exactly does that have anything to do with this again?”  
“You don't just forget someone that punches other people **for** you!”  
“Again... that was weeks ago.” He shot the Uchiha a glare. “Now I wouldn’t be able to forget you if I tried.”  
  
Neither of them was really sure if that was a compliment or an insult and while the Uchiha continued glaring the blonde continued looking around his desk for that slip of paper he had sketched an idea for that monster on. Feeling the daggers to his back he sighed and turned around to face the other once more. _‘I'm pretty sure I've never seen him sulk like a child before.’_ he thought absentmindedly while scratching the back of his head. “Listen, you're not the only one I don’t remember much about. For gods’ sakes, I can’t remember even half of my childhood or how my parents were like! Don’t you think **they're** a bit sad about that? I can assure you that I’m more pissed than Neji that I cant remember all of our moments together but the difference between him and you is that he gives me space and lets me take it in my own pace. The only thing you're doing is pressuring me… which according to the doctor will only make it take twice as long for me to remember.”  
Well, if Sasuke had ever gotten a kick to the behind, that sure was one big boot to his already sore ego.   
  
Huffing something about having his own work to deal with he slid off the stool he had been perched on and left the office. It was beyond Naruto how someone so asocial and mean could work in a line of profession where you had to be a people person to get by. Uchiha Sasuke was the only guy the whiskered man knew who had made a kid cry from simply throwing them a glance. Sighing once more he shook his head when he finally found what he was looking for underneath a stack of magazines about different PC games. Considering how long he had been absent from work, and for which reason, all the things Neji hadn’t come for had been thrown away… and most of those things had been work, sadly. Which meant as soon as he had returned he had been forced to start from scratch. His reputation as the best had been shot and he had been forced to work hard to earn it right back. Pointless to say, he hadn’t needed all that many clients to accomplish that, although there were a few hotheads at the office that had issues acknowledging him… much to a certain Uchiha's dismay. Sasuke couldn’t draw a stick figure correct but he was a computing genius and he was the one that put the Uzumaki's designs to life on the screen.  
Trying futilely to rub away the headache at his temples Naruto sat down to try to focus at the projects at hand. Today simply wasn’t a good day.  
  
-  
  
Neji saw the signs of exhaustion the second his lover stepped through the door. The blonde didn’t cheer as he usually did but rather pressed out a faint smile before pulling the raven into a tight hug. The fact that he simply stood there holding him told the Hyuuga more than words could’ve ever expressed. He didn’t need words to read his fiancé, he knew the mood from a single glance. So he stood there and let the other hold him knowing that that was probably what the Uzumaki needed more than anything.   
“A tough day?” he mumbled lowly into a strong shoulder.  
“Very.” came the muffled mumble from somewhere behind his ear. “Had I still been working on the ocean I would’ve thrown the bastard overboard long ago.” Naruto sighed. “He kept on nagging hour in and hour out about how I didn’t remember something or other from when we were in 4th grade, until I got a migraine.”  
A year ago the Uzumaki would’ve simply clocked the other to make him shut it but Neji didn’t say that, he knew that pointing out how the whiskered man had become gentler would make him ill at ease. He would start to wonder what more had changed apart from the obvious things. Did he talk in a different way, did he do things differently, were his reactions to old things new?   
  
“You’re not hungry then I take it?” he murmured instead, pale hands already rubbing soothingly over stiff muscles. The only answer he got was a groan. No, no food. Pale eyes fluttered closed as a soft sigh escaped him. “Go take a shower, love. I’ll bring you a cup of tea when you're in bed.”  
His movements seemed so heavy and hard to pull off when the blonde nodded and dragged his tired body to the bedroom to take off his clothes. He was so tired. Maybe it was the warm weather? It had been oddly humid all day long, more so than a thunderstorm usually caused before breaking out. It was wearing him out. Sasuke's constant bitching, the mess at work, computers failing to function, the crowded commuter home, it had all drained him of what little energy he had had that morning.   
  
Blue eyes blinked down at the tiles in the shower. He didn’t remember how he had gotten there and right now he didn’t care. The lukewarm water felt marvellous against his heated skin, cooling him off without really chilling him down. Sighing heavily he closed his eyes and lifted his face to the shower head to let the water wash away the traces of weariness from the whiskered features. He didn’t as much as flinch when he heard the shower door open and close… and a pair of strong hands going to work on his sore back. God bless Neji for knowing what he needed without him having to muster enough thinking capacity to form the words in his own head. A low groan echoed in the bathroom when nimble fingers found a knot and gently kneaded it out.   
  
The look in those cobalt blue eyes when they looked at him over a permanently tanned shoulder sent quivers down the raven’s spine. He hadn’t seen that look for so long and regardless of the Uzumaki remembering their relationship, they hadn’t actually been intimate yet after their reunion. Naruto hadn’t wanted to do anything to the Hyuuga before remembering and Neji hadn’t pressured him for the touch that he secretly craved. He had been without for more than a year, he could wait a little longer. But now, now he saw in those eyes what the blonde needed… and his body reacted in an instant.   
  
Breaking that intensive gaze he closed his eyes and pressed feather light kisses to a strong shoulder blade knowing exactly what to do and how to get the reactions they both wanted. Lips and tender hands drew soft sighs over the whiskered man’s lips as sensitive skin was caressed and re-explored. Naruto wanted to turn around, he wanted to touch his beloved and map out that body that his hands remembered but not his mind… but the raven wouldn’t let him.   
“Shhh…” he hushed him without the Uzumaki having uttered a single word. “Let me…”  
So he stood there, tanned hands resting on the white tiles as pale ones whispered over his body accompanied by barely there kisses and licks. His body ached, a low burning ache in his very bones but he ignored it and let his lover do what he wanted, he knew Neji had patiently waited and longed for this. How could he possibly deny his precious anything?  
  
Naruto groaned when those hands slid over his thighs to his loins but passed the place that so desperately needed touch only to slide over his stomach to his chest. Fingertips traced every line of his body, every contour and every valley to remember and engrave it deeper into their very nerves. They whispered over perked nubs, teasing the areolas gently without really touching the nipples at all. It drove him out of his mind, causing him to straightening his arms against the tiles and letting his head fall in sheer frustration.  
“Mooneye…”   
His rasping voice stopped the hands midtease… Azure eyes slowly opened not minding the stream falling over both of them as the Hyuuga wordlessly moved to stand in front of him under the cascading water. The long dark hair shimmered like the blackest oil when wet but the paler man didn’t seem to notice at all because those pale eyes were firmly locked with bottomless cerulean. Only then did they truly see each other, they really saw what the other thought, wondered… felt. They had forgotten just how close they had once been… and now they remembered. They remembered they were more than lovers, more than fiancés… they were one person in two bodies.   
  
The kiss when their lips met was bittersweet. They didn’t crash against each other, they melded. Their bodies sought the other almost reverently in their slow and gentle touches. They tasted, they savoured. Having closed their eyes to the falling water they let other senses take over as gasps left them when heated skin met and slid against heated skin. The other’s smell, his voice, his taste, they took it all in in greedy gulps only to long for more. Neji couldn’t but release a soft sigh when strong hands parted firm buttocks to let water run down the cleft. He had missed his beloved’s touch for so long, had so desperately wished he'd feel it again and now when he did… he found himself wanting to prolong it. He didn’t mind taking it slow rather than the hasty meeting he'd believed this would become once they got here. Instead he held on to the larger body, clung to it when careful fingertips brushed against him again and again and again. It wasn’t teasing, he knew that much, he could feel the difference in the touch. They sought, found, moved on, mapped out skin they already knew but had forgotten. The barely there click from the tube went completely undetected by his senses. He didn’t hear, didn’t see… but he felt, he felt the first tentative slick touch before a fingertip oh so carefully pushed in.   
  
It was tight, more than a year without a single sexual urge had that effect but neither man cared. Neji didn’t fear the pain though, in one way he even craved it. It would mean he truly, finally was back where he belonged, in his lover’s arms. But he also knew the blonde wouldn’t cause him as much as a single sting. He hadn’t that first time so long ago, and he wouldn’t now. The lips distracting him, the hand stroking his skin told him that and so he focused on the kiss, the calm yet passionate kiss that devoured him with its heat despite the lukewarm water falling over both of them.   
  
His head fell back when he felt his lover lift him up and nudge him. How long had they been standing in the shower like this, caressing, kissing… reminiscing? He didn’t know, didn’t have a single clue as to how long it could possibly be. It could’ve been hours or minutes, it could’ve been seconds… Neji had completely lost his grip on reality standing there in the whiskered man’s embrace. A groan rolled up from deep in his chest when he was carefully lowered and breached. He didn’t notice the tears, they went completely unnoticed by them both as he wrapped himself around the permanently tanned form never to let go again. The grip on him tightened painfully, enough to leave bruises but he didn’t care, he wanted those bruises, he needed them to survive. As slender hips gently started to move the first sob left him. Finally! They were finally one again! He was with his one and only, his Naruto, **his** Naruto, the one man that opened his eyes to reality and his heart to love.   
  
They moved in prefect sync, in a motion so carved into their subconscious neither of them was truly aware of moving at all. They met time after another, rose and fell with the need in their bodies, they shared the same air in the small booth… as need turned into fever and desperation. As they neared their peak the tempo was almost brutal, both of them clawing at the other to mark, to never let go, to find a grip that wouldn’t crumble as they fell from an edge they knew would erase everything. When they finally did fall the only sound they heard was the sound of their laboured breathing and of water falling… they didn’t need more. They didn’t need anything.  
  
As his heartbeats slowly calmed down Neji opened his eyes to unseeingly watch the world around him. The water was cold, chilling them both but it didn’t really bother them. He swallowed hard when the vicelike grip on his middle tightened just a little. The warm breaths against his throat felt so hot against his cooling skin. Unwilling to let go over for a second yet knowing he had to, the Hyuuga reached up to turn the water off. Neither of them had noticed when they had slid down to the floor.   
“There’s hot tea on the nightstand for you.” he mumbled softly.  
“You’ll probably have to warm it or brew new.” came the tired answer. The raven couldn’t but smile.  
“Probably.”  
And yet neither of them moved from their spot of the floor. The tea would have to wait a little longer…  
  
-  
  
 _Blonde brows frowned. He was at the airport, why was he at the airport? He didn’t remember going there, how he got there or why. Slowly he turned to look around. There were people everywhere, smiling couples going on vacation, whining children, older men and women wanting nothing more than to board so they could get home faster… or to get to their destination as soon as possible. And businessmen of course, they were everywhere, sitting there with their laptops, working away regardless of the heat taking a toll on them in their fancy suits. Speaking of laptops, he had one in his backpack. How did he know he had a laptop in his backpack? Why did he have one to begin with? Still confused about the whole situation he frowned when his own body moved without his orders or awareness. An unsettling feeling made his gut churn when the flight attendant called out that the flight to Konohagakure was now boarding. He really didn’t want to board that plane but his body was already waiting in line for the preliminary passengers. There was nothing he could do but watch himself put his luggage in the compartment above his head and sit down buckling the seatbelt. A soft smile graced the whiskered features when he idly played with the ring on his finger. He so missed his lover, they had been apart for too long again and he'd definitely make up to Neji for it when he got back home. The smile grew just a little when he remembered their phone call from that morning. His adorable Hyuuga had been right up in his morning routine, he had probably overslept again, a bad habit he had gotten as soon as he had resigned from the slave labour under Hiashi's rule… and yet he had probably been sitting there on the stool by the kitchen counter, chewing on his cherry jam toast while absentmindedly toying with the phone cord. The Uzumaki had laughed himself senseless the time he had been forced to actually unplug the thing so he could sort out the countless knots on the cord after one of Neji's longer phone calls, much to the raven’s dismay that hadn’t been as fond of the tight hug he had gotten from his big lover for simply being ‘too cute for words’.  
  
Sighing heavily blue eyes turned to look out the small airplane window… only to widen a fraction of a second before he saw the engine on his side explode. The next 5 minutes were nothing but a chaotic hell of screams, static information from the cockpit and violent shaking. And yet the only thing he could think of was his most precious, his Neji, his everything, that was waiting for him at home. He had to at least hear his voice before they crashed, he had to…  
He didn’t remember how he fished his cell out of his jacket pocket, he didn’t remember pressing the number or screaming into the small plastic device when he finally got an answer… only his own words rung in his head.  
“Neji!? The plane is crashing! We’re going down! I think something happened with an engine, its burning!” His own sobs went unheard. “Neji, I love you, I love you, I-” The call was cut off when the phone was knocked out of his hand and was crushed as it slid on the floor under panicking people’s seats. Still shocked he turned to the window and saw the ocean come up to meet him…_  
  
His anxiety ridden scream when he woke up from the nightmare echoed between the walls. He didn’t notice himself sobbing loudly, he didn’t notice his erratic breathing, he didn’t feel the cold sweat running down his clammy skin… but somewhere in the nauseating fog that was his overflowing memory he heard a sound that didn’t belong… the sound of a worried voice… and the sudden warmth of a strong embrace that held him as hard as it could muster. Staring wildly around him, only now taking in his own bedroom covered in darkness, he realized he was at home… in his lover’s arms. It was too much. He clung to the paler man barely hearing the soothing voice time after another calling his name, he cried like he had never cried before… because he had survived… and he was so scared. He remembered it all so vividly, the colors of the other passengers clothes, the horrible little flower pattern on the seats, the smell of oil and hot asphalt in the sun…   
“I'm here, baby.” the soothing voice whispered as a gentle hand held his head against a strong chest firmly. “I'm here, I won’t go anywhere, my love, I'm here…”  
Knowing he was exactly where he was supposed to, knowing he had regained his constantly returning memories and knowing that he was **safe** was what had the blonde sobbing himself to sleep in the loving and calming embrace of his lover. He didn’t need more, all he ever needed he had right there in his Neji.  
  
-  
  
Waking up to the pain filled scream of his lover would haunt Neji until the day he drew his last breath. For one hellish second he had truly believed his beloved had been dying. Realizing your most important person had survived a nightmare throwing him into memories from more than a year ago wasn’t all that much better. He held the shivering man as hard as he could trying to rub some warmth into stiff muscles and cold skin. The grip on his ribs wasn’t anywhere near strong enough but he knew that what little hold the other had right now was all he could muster after having been completely drained of all energy. The Hyuuga sighed heavily where he lay in bed still holding the blonde close to him. He slept now, peacefully after having been crying for nearly an hour. Outside their bedroom window a nasty storm had Konoha in its clutches. Thunder and lightning took turns making the window clatter but it only caused the raven to sigh yet another time. The air was hot and humid to breathe but right now that was probably better than the chill that would most certainly make the Uzumaki sick in his chilled and sweaty state. Pale eyes returned to the sleeping whiskered features, worried when the permanently tanned man stirred.   
  
“Shhh, baby… shhhh…” he whispered trying to lure the other back into deeper sleep. He didn’t want Naruto to wake up to a thunderstorm when he had just dreamt of one. The whiskered man was strong, very much so but even he would have a hard time keeping a good grip on reality after such a nightmare. Fingertips tenderly stroked the back of the blonde’s head, caressing, rubbing to soothe his worried slumber. Thankfully it worked. With a heavy sigh Naruto slid back into deeper sleep and settled. Wrapping himself around the blonde Neji finally gave in and let his own tears fall. Never again did he want to see his lover as forlorn as he had seen him this night. The longhaired man knew he was the weaker of the two and he wasn’t entirely sure if he could handle shouldering the role of the stronger one if the Uzumaki collapsed. Well, he'd have to learn because there was no way he'd ever let the other down. He loved him limitlessly and such affection can give tremendous strength sometimes.   
Never minding the softly rolling tears he wrapped himself around the larger male as good as he could and continued to simply caress the blonde tenderly through the night.  
  
-  
  
By the time Naruto woke up the next morning the clock on the nightstand told him it was little to 11 in the forenoon. He was more than late for work. Blue eyes blinked at the clock. He now remembered where it came from, it was bought at the airport in Argentina during their first vacation since they both had forgotten to bring one. He blinked again when a dark red mug was placed in front of the ticking invention.   
“How’re you feeling?” The low voice was like soothing balm for his thundering headache. Speaking of thunder, although the storm from yesterday seemed to have passed it was still pouring outside. It never rains but it pours. Lashes only a hue darker than the sun kissed mane fluttered slowly.  
“Like I'm going to get one hell’uva lashing for being half a day late for work.” he rasped out.   
“Don’t worry, I called you in sick before.” the raven murmured once again stroking the silky golden hair. “I figured you'd need the rest.”  
“Thanks.”  
  
For a while neither man said anything, they simply listened to the pouring rain and the sound of drops falling on the windowsill. For some reason, this time together meant more than many other occasions. A heavy sigh made the permanently tanned chest rise under the blanket. “Did you make it to work?” he asked softly.   
“I called in sick as well.”  
Blue eyes locked ivory.  
“No, I mean, did you make it to work the day I called? One and a half year ago?”  
Neji hated himself for being such a crybaby but he just couldn’t help it, tears filled already puffy eyes and finally brimmed over. Not being able to look the Uzumaki in the eye he simply hid his face in his hands and sobbed.  
“I did…” he pressed out. “With 2 minutes to spare.”  
Naruto smiled a barely there smile. Slowly he raised a hand to gently rub his lover’s back. He didn’t say anything more, didn’t do anything more, he didn’t have the energy to and fortunately he didn’t have to.   
They spent the rest of the day in bed talking lowly about their past, their present and their future… or not talking at all while simply holding each other listening to the rain outside. Finally they could move on. Indeed, now he understood why they had chosen to inscribe that special saying on the inside of their rings. When love is not madness, it is not love. Only true love could’ve made him remember nothing but his lover’s name.  
  
6 months later…  
  
“You know, Asuma only moved to another house, he didn’t leave the planet.”  
“Shut up, you fool! You'll be as worried as I am when your daughter decides to move out!”  
“I’m already prepared for that since she's going to college in 2 years and I’m **still** better off than you!”  
Sarutobi was just about to retort to that when his face cracked up in a wide smile. Without sparing the other man as much as a glance he hurried towards the pier where a sailing boat had just moored in their little harbor.   
“Naruto!” he greeted and was met with a wide grin on whiskered features.  
“Ojii-san!” the blonde hollered as he skipped off the boat to give the old man a tight hug. “You remembered!”  
Sarutobi huffed at the blatant surprise in the younger man’s voice.  
“Of course I remember! I'm old, not senile.” Curious eyes turned to the stunning beauty of a man carefully coming down to meet him. “I assume this is the **real** Neji, no?” he smiled.  
It earned him a small slightly shy smile back as the paler man nodded. A pale hand was tenderly encased in a larger permanently tanned one.  
“An honor to meet you, sir. And thank you for having taken such good care of him for me.” the raven bowed politely.   
  
The older male couldn’t but chuckle.  
“No need to be so formal, lad. I only did what I could and ended up getting a second son in him. You have a very beautiful fiancé, Naruto.”  
The blonde’s smile grew warmer.  
“Husband, actually. We got married 2 weeks ago and are here on our honeymoon.” he said lowly offering the man next to him a loving smile. “Uzumaki Neji is officially a part of me and my family.”  
“I wouldn’t say that to the young girls here on the island.” came the cryptic answer. The glimpse in dark eyes had a blonde brow rising. Something was up here. Sarutobi only puffed on his pipe like that when he was up to something.  
“Why not?” he obediently asked.  
“Because you broke quite a few hearts when you left, my boy. The girls kind of expected you to return to the island and I don’t think any of them took a young man into account then.”  
Paling slightly the taller Uzumaki swallowed hard. He had conveniently forgotten that aspect of this little rural community. He'd have to eat that up now, wouldn’t he? Pressing out a sheepish grin he scratched the back of his head and followed the older man up his house where people were already pouring out to greet him back. In the back of his mind he tried thinking of plausible excuses that wouldn’t end with him getting lynched.  
  
He turned to his beloved with a curious look in his eyes when a smaller hand squeezed his. The expression Neji wore was slightly… sadistic.  
“ **You** might be taken… but Uchiha isn’t.” he smirked. “Why don’t we bring him next time we come to visit? See it as a little token of gratitude for all the _‘help’_ he's given us these past 6 months.”  
Naruto laughed out loud as he swooped his precious husband up and held him hard. Ah, yes, a most excellent idea. That way he might even be able to leave Sasuke here when they returned back home.   
“We’ll have to sock him before I carry him onboard but don’t worry, I’ll punch him good and you'll tie him up. That way he won’t be able to run!”  
Smiling like loons they shared a sweet kiss before they greeted the rest of Sarutobi's and ultimately their new family.

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto, I don’t want to. Too troublesome. Neither do I profit from writing this fic.
> 
> Unbetaed so all typos and errors are mine. Also, I haven't read through this in ages so if I've missed any tags, feel free to poke me.
> 
> I do NOT give permission to have any of my works put up on Goodreads or any other such site.


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